The list only includes films directed & written by the brothers. For example, Crimewave, written by the two and directed by Sam Raimi, isn't on the list.

FWIW, I consider this a VERY difficult choice. Which is my "desert island film"? Which would I pick first to introduce a newbie to the Coens? Which would I first watch by myself on a free evening? I think I'd come up with a different answer for each question!

Fargo won the Oscar, but so many of these films are so deliciously unique. O Brother undeniably has the best music and may be the most "literate", but, but, but.....

Here are my top five, for now: O Brother, Lebowski, Fargo, Hudsucker, and Arizona. It's going to be difficult to whittle this down. I haven't seen their two most recent films (and haven't felt that I needed to).

My vote goes to Miller's Crossing, which currently accounts for 100% of the tally.

I like it that way, so let's not muck things up, alright?

I went with Fargo, but The Man Who Wasn't There was a close second.

I also regard Miller's Crossing as their masterpiece. Barton Fink is my second favourite. Then either O Brother or Lebowski.

I like all of the Coens' films except Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers.

I went with O Brother in the desert-island sense. Music, humor, pater familia, [spoiler]murderous Bible salesmen[/spoiler]--it's got it all.

I *think* Raising Arizona might have come in second. It's probably my wife's favorite and is a great date movie. It's got great music, too, and is perhaps their sweetest film. Wait, maybe that's O Brother...

The Big Lebowski is a sentimental contender, but I think it's one of those films that's funnier before and after (rather than during) a screening, largely due to all the one-liners and humorous images. You've got to love a film that really makes fun of atheists and nihilists--and it's got The Dude.

I love Fargo--perhaps their darkest film--but it's still not a film I like to watch for no good reason. Maybe that makes it truly the best? Darn tootin'!

Hudsucker is SO funny and SO unique, but it can't beat out the others in my estimation. And it's, you know, for kids.

I obviously need to see Miller's Crossing again.

Where's "none of the above"?

Dale

Here, but I didn't notice the Coens.

ha

I'm going for O Brother although don't hold me to it in 5 years time....

Honorable mentions to Fargo, Miller's Crossing, and , ahem, Ladykillers.

Matt

PS HAdn't realised that the only one I haven't seen is "Blood Simple", and that and "Bigt Lebowski" are teh only ones I don't own.

Be warned, Matt: the British DVD releases of Blood Simple (both the single edition and the one included in the boxed set called The Coen Brothers Collection) are cut versions. I can't vouch for the American edition.

I agree with this statement. Whenever I think "desert island," I think of me alone on an island, and am never sure if I'd want depressing films/music to commiserate with, or if I'd want lighter fare to cheer me up.

So I'm not thinking "desert island." But I can't decide between O Brother and Fargo. I'll pick O Brother, followed by Fargo, then Raising Arizona.

Ouch, this hurts. I had to go with my first love, Raising Arizona, the best thing Nic Cage and Holly Hunter have ever done. That's my favorite. It's still just as hilarious all these years later.

But when it comes to which of the films I find most meaningful and accomplished, that would have to be Barton Fink.

I cannot wait for No Country for Old Men.

Miller's Crossing might be my Desert Island movie without the Coen qualifier.

After all these years, my favorite is still Raising Arizona I love its combination of offbeat humor and visual style. O Brother is a close second, and Fargo because of the great performances.

I loved Big Lebowski the first time I saw it, but a repeat viewing didn't do much for me. I saw Miller's Crossing a long time ago, but couldn't get into it. I would like to revisit that one again and give it another chance after reading this thread. Same goes for Barton Fink.

I love every single Coen film (except Intolerable Cruelty which, to be nitpicky, wasn't truly written by them--they did the touch-up draft of the screenplay after it was already written). I had to go with Fargo though. The final round tie-breaker was the fact that it includes the line "Where's Pancakes House?"

Guiltily, because I know Barton Fink is likely better than the movie I chose, "Raising Arizona" gets my vote. Any movie that makes me laugh that hard -- and has that many lines one recalls even years later -- must be good. But Barton Fink, a movie most people either love or hate it seems to me, is one I love also....

"We got us a family unit here!"

Jon

*splutters* I'm absolutely incredulous! As much as I love Raising Arizona, it's a pretty shodily put together film. However, i can understand quite a few votes going to it but only 2 for The Big Lebowski?! It's so good it shines! And nothing for Barton Fink?! Come on people?!

And Oh Brother is painfully over rated. Sorry. It needed to be said.

I'm a little surprised Barton Fink hasn't snared a vote yet, as well. It's seemed to me that it's been "rediscovered" somewhat since it's DVD release. It's #2 on my list; perhaps that's the problem -- maybe it's runner-up for everybody.

I could've chosen any of 3 films as my "favorite," and I suspect many others were in the same boat. I wouldn't put too much stock in the vote total here, but it's a fun exercise.

The other vote for The Dude is from me.

My top five would be Lebowski, Barton Fink, Fargo, O Brother and Raising Arizona.

I went with The Man Who Wasn't There because 1) it defied my expectations more than any other Coen Brothers film, 2) the combination of Billy Bob Thornton and Frances McDormand (with Tony Shalhoub in a great supporting performance) is too smashing to pass up, and 3) because I suspected - incorrectly - that it wouldn't garner any other votes.

Now I half-wish I'd picked Blood Simple, for sentimental reasons, since it doesn't currently have any votes. Not only was it the Bros' first, it's the movie that, in the summer after I'd temporarily dropped out of college, almost convinced me to go to film school.

I voted for The Man Who Wasn't There because it is a well executed film as well as a well executed idea for a film. And there are some fantastic shots in the film, but these strike me more as the mimicry of similar films rather than flashes of inspiration by the Coen brothers. Jeffrey Overstreet got the t-shirt somehow.

It was silly of me not to vote for Raising Arizona. It is such a nonchalant and edifying movie.

I suppose the main reason I voted for THe Big Lebowski is because it is the only one of their films that my appreciation of has grown when rewatching. I was bored by it the first time at the cinema (I was young), but I'm continually discovering new things in it. Also, it has by far the tightest of their screenplays. It's wonderfully eliptical, I particularly appreciate how the dialgoue is very nimbly used to demonstrate how these characters are tied in together. Eg. the clip of Bush saying "this aggression will not stand" is picked up by the characters throughout the film.

And, of course, The Dude is the all round modern hero.

One of my most dissapointing American experiences/simulacra was visiting the bowling alley in the film and they didn't have the neon stars on the side. Pah!

I like the same things you like about the film, and have watched it numerous times. For some reason it has recently begun to rub me the wrong way, they make a lot of jokes off the back of some rather serious points of social commentary, and then distance themselves from that material by the cleverness of the film. Lebowski just seems to epitomize the apathy of much of young middle class America. Or something like that.

I've seen them all except for Barton Fink.

I went with Miller's Crossing as I will never get the "Danny Boy" scene out of my head, as well as a few others. However, by now you know that I hate comedies, but over the years I have come to love Raising Arizona, one of my wife's favorite films. If it can still make me laugh on the seventeenth viewing, well that is staying power, and it might actually be the best in the bunch regardless of its "shodiness."

If it were a desert island, I certainly wouldn't want to be stuck with Miller's Crossing, but I still believe it to be the best all around film in the bunch. (B.F. aside)

There is a final part of me that is sad I didn't go with Blood Simple. I just love those scenes of the yellow-suited guy with the fly all over his big ol' ugly face.

-s.

PS I have always hated The Big Lebowski -- almost as much as Ken hates Magnolia.

Stef, you rock.

As if that were ever in question. Stef is one of the most longstanding female contributors to A&F.

My mistrust of The Big Lebowski was confirmed a few years back at a double bill screening with The Man Who Wasn't There at a "Brew and View" event in Chicago. The Man Who Wasn't There is not a funny film, but the ability of the audience to laugh during it the same way they laughed during The Big Lebowski was appalling. Or may I just take everything too seriously.

Thank you, Mary.



You are not at all taking things too seriously on the subject. People call A History of Violence funny, and I can see some kind of subversive humor in it, sure. But it's not Laugh-HaHa funny, like the people in the theater made it out to be.

But I can't fathom people laughing during The Man Who Wasn't There -- perhaps they had one too many that night at the Brew and View?

-s.

Wow... Miller's Crossing is leading this pole. I'm gonna have to see that one again.

And I still haven't seen Raising Arizona (I can't stand Cage, but I love Hunter and the Coens -- it's too much of a paradox for my small, little mind to wrap itself around, so I often pretend it doesn't exist)...

Me either! He riles me enormously. And yet, this is the perfect movie for him. Try it, Cage playing a slapstick bufoon might actually prove to be a cathartic experience.

Holy guacamole.

I just watched Barton Fink. It was amazing. Made me want to go back and watch half of the films on the poll... And yet, no devoted thread to it here at A&F? Oh, the agnoy. I need more input on this one. It left me wanting more, which is typically a good thing and a reason to immediately see it again. And it has to be the most luscious looking Coen brothers film of all. I want to love it, but I'm unsure, and you people haven't helped me with this one. Shame on you all.

-s.

Stef, Barton Fink is a master work. Some find it pretentious, too arty. I think it's brilliant. Goodman and Turturro are at their best, and I think more highly of the dialogue in this film than I do of any other Coen Brothers film (and I think very highly of several of them).

A personal favorite scene (don't ask me why): Barton standing at the door, talking to Judi Davis, who's trying to compose herself while John Mahoney, unseen somewhere within the home, shouts, "WHERE'S MY HONEY?"

I am a HUGE fan of Hudsucker and show it in my films class. So I know the thing backwards and forwards. Some films get better after seeing them 10+ times. This is one of them.

I also love Miller's Crossing, but I've seen it only once.

I can't find a dedicated thread for Miller's Crossing, so I'm posting Jim Emerson's wonderful overview here.

Beautiful. Makes me want to sit down right now and watch the film again.

It also winks at readers about the plot complexities, which kept me from understanding who was doing what to whom until about the fifth time I saw the movie. I'd since forgotten the details -- if you quizzed me on the film, I'd fail -- so this was a useful refresher, as far as it goes.

Have I mentioned that I love hats but have a gigantic head, and that I've never found a hat I feel comfortable wearing to the office? I did buy a big ol' leather hat once, and I wear it in inclement weather, but I've never quite embraced the "rugged look," and co-workers have dubbed it my "Indiana Jones hat," even though it's nothing like Jones' head-topper.

We need a thread on hats.

I'm shocked that I'm the only person to choose BLOOD SIMPLE. I have many other favourites on that list, but its BLOOD SIMPLE hands down. No other BS fans?

Added after a read of the full thread: Mark, stef, good on ya.

Oh, I'm a big BS fan. (Wait...I mean Blood Simple!) It's a top-tier Coen movie, though my favorite is either Fargo, Miller's Crossing or Barton Fink depending on the day.

Finally watched Miller's Crossing last night.

I wasn't sure if my wife would like it, but we both ended up enjoying it a lot. Some really memorable performances in here, great dialogue. Jon Polito is so great as Casper. Such a great character actor. I remember him from as a kid, he was in The Rocketeer. Also, Tom is the best role Gabriel Byrne has ever done. My wife didn't think Albert Finney was all that. Oh, and have I mentioned how big a fan I am of John Tuturro? Coen's at the top of their game

I voted long ago in this poll for The Big Lebowski, and it still stands. I love it. Barton Fink is a close second.

I still have to see Blood Simple, Hudsucker Proxy, and The Man Who Wasn't There.

That said, I don't think there's a single Coen film I don't like. Though, I do find their last two to be their weakest.

Looking forward to No Country For Old Men.

If Alan adds No Country to the poll options, I might seriously consider changing my vote.

It's that good.

Can't change votes, even if I add it, unfortunately. ** BUT ** I might add it and wipe out everyone's votes for a fresh start.

I thought about it too up until the last five minutes.

I heard that my mom actually stood up at the end and shouted, "I want my money back!"

-s., voice of the commoner

**IF** you were to do so, you could also add a poll from which is least favorite. Might be interesting to see the overlap.

Could we include Crimewave in this vote, then?

I might as well. But I'd need to see it a few more times. But for the moment, I am smitten by NCFOM.

I take back everything I ever said about The Big Lebowski.

It's still not their best film, but there was never a need to "hate" it.

Recently watched it at movieforumz, and I had the time of my life. In some kind of way I think I just needed to be properly prep'd for the Lebowski experience.

So there.

-s.